ADR-003 — Hard-block third-party characters

Status: Accepted · Date: 2026-06-02

Context

Children naturally want their favorite branded characters (Spider-Man, Elsa, Pokémon) in their story. Allowing that would be a strong engagement hook — but it is a copyright/trademark minefield. Research flagged IP/likeness as a serious, non-optional legal exposure (e.g. Disney/Universal v Midjourney — $150K/work statutory damages [FACT]), and named "any path that lets a child insert third-party characters" as an explicit KILL.

Decision

Original characters only — hard-block all third-party / branded characters. The cast = the child's friends (first name + traits only, no photos of other children) plus original characters inspired by the child's interests (e.g. a dinosaur theme → an original dinosaur, not a licensed one).

Rationale

The downside (statutory copyright/trademark damages, platform takedowns, reputational harm to a children's brand built on trust) vastly outweighs the engagement upside. "Inspired by interests" captures most of the emotional value (a dino-loving child still gets dinosaurs) without infringing. Consistent with the owned-IP strategy in ADR-002 — the brand's value is its own defensible characters.

Source / evidence

• Project-Objective.md §4 (Pillar 1), §6, §12 (resolved)
• Research_Synthesis.md §11 (risk register), §18 (KILL) — [FACT] Disney/Universal v Midjourney $150K/work
• Overview — the cast